Cable ties used to tie together a cable harness and which have the characteristic to be self-locking are already known. Such cable ties generally have the shape of a flexible material strip, most often out of plastic, which comprises at a first end a fastening head provided with one single opening that can be longitudinal or transversal and allows receiving a second end of the material strip, which is free. The material strip is notched on one of its sides or on both sides and the opening of the fastening head comprises a ratchet. From this results that, when the second end of the material strip is inserted in the opening of the fastening head, the material strip is closed in the form of a loop, and at least one of the notches of the notched side of the material strip and the ratchet engage to lock the cable tie. Consequently, the movement of the material strip with respect to the opening of the fastening head is only allowed in one direction. In fact, when one pulls the second end of the material strip, the loop formed shrinks and it is no longer possible to enlarge the loop. This type of tie is therefore particularly interesting to tie a cable harness. However, when the loop is closed, the fastening head of the cable tie protrudes outside of the loop, and the second end of the material strip must protrude outside of the loop to facilitate the adjustment of the size of the loop by pulling the second end of the strip. This is why the opening of the fastening head ends outside of the loop. Most of the time, when the cable harness is tied, the second end and the corresponding part of the material strip that protrudes outside of the loop are cut off to reduce the space requirement of the cable tie. Nevertheless, the fastening head remains protruding outside of the loop and, in certain conditions, its presence is problematic. In particular, such as when there are several cable harnesses, where the protruding fastening heads can damage the neighboring cables by crushing the insulations. Publications WO 2009/001079 A1 and EP 1 818 275 A1 illustrate this type of cable tie provided with one single opening passing through the fastening head in the longitudinal direction of the material strip.
Publication EP 1 818 275 A1 describes a cable tie whose fastening head is flat in the extension of the material strip and comprises two transversal slots parallel to each other in which the free end of the material strip is introduced successively, thus avoiding any overthickness outside of the loop in its tying position. However, the implementation of this solution is difficult and time-consuming, as it requires, to close the cable tie in a loop around a cable harness, to introduce the free end of the material strip first in the first slot from the outside towards the inside of the harness, then in the second slot, from the inside towards the outside of the harness.
Publication US 2002/083559 A1 corresponds to the preamble of the independent claim and discloses a cable tie in which the fastening head comprises a first opening that passes through the head in the longitudinal direction, followed by a second opening that passes through the head in the transversal direction and comprising obligatorily an inclined ramp that allows deviating the free end of the material strip towards the outside of the loop when the cable tie is closed in a loop. Therefore, the structure of this cable tie type is complex and does not necessarily guarantee the exit of the free end towards the outside, depending on the diameter of the loop.
For these reasons, the solutions of the prior art are not satisfying.